> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # GETTING PERSONAL Console named desire - URL: https://www.smdp.com/getting-personal-console-named-desire/ - Published: 2007-03-09T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T00:12:54.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import *HECTIC STATE I want a Wii, dammit.* I can’t understand why it is so unbelievably, unconscionably, outrageously difficult to find that addictive piece of Japanese video game engineering. Aside from college basketball and sleeping, my free time these past few months has been spent resuming a quest for the sleek white Nintendo game console that has me up at night drooling. It is a quest that has taken on Holy Grail proportions. Hell, if some strange Japanese men bedecked in suits looking all “Men in Black” presented me with a Wii saying “Wii would like to play,” I’d let them in my house. A quick explanation for the video game-challenged — the Japanese video game giant released the Wii late last year, setting the price of the console at $249.99\. The Wii stands out from its competitors like Sony PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in that its one-handed remote is equipped with motion sensor capabilities, allowing the video gamer to use it as a tennis racket, a bowling ball, boxing gloves or a baseball bat. It all depends on the game you’re playing. Pretty awesome, right? It all started in early January, about a week before my boyfriend’s birthday. I became infatuated with the Wii after playing it for hours at a friend’s house. Playing the Wii has been great for my athletic self-esteem. When I’m playing Wii tennis, my returns don’t go flying outside the court onto a car. When I’m playing the Wii, I feel like I should be in one of those ESPN commercials where the athlete is walking around the ESPN offices. Pretty pathetic, right? Anyway, my boyfriend mentioned on more than one occasion that he would love to have a Wii. I took that as a hint to go out and find him a Wii. I made a few calls. Best Buy, EB Games, Toys “R”Us, Target and Wal- Mart all gave the same response — no Wii, no information about the next shipment. I knew I was in for a battle. Desperate to get a Wii in time for his 26th birthday, I sought the assistance of Craigslist and eBay where I found consoles listed for sale starting at $400. I laughed. While the look on my boyfriend’s face when he opens the Wii would be priceless, it wasn’t a tacked on- $150-kind of priceless. Do you know how many pairs of shoes I can buy for $150? My last desperate attempt to buy a Wii for my boyfriend’s birthday ended at Wal- Mart, when I saw that the big box store sold $250 Wii gift certificates. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to receive an I.O.U. for my birthday. So I gave up and bought him a new iPod jacket, a $50 gift certificate and an iPod car adapter for his birthday. By giving up, I actually meant I gave up on finding a Wii for my boyfriend’s birthday. I didn’t throw in the towel on finding the Wii. Not by a long shot. I have since been making calls around Santa Monica a few times a week. “No!” the annoyed store clerks always reply. “When will you receive your next shipment?” “I heard that we might get some (insert favorite day of the week here.)” According to a sales associate at EB Games in Santa Monica Place, the employees never really know when a shipment of the Wii comes in, until they spot the line forming outside the store. When word gets out somehow that a store is going to receive a couple of consoles, video game fanatics often begin lining up at 3 a.m. I thought my luck had changed a few weeks ago when I called the Santa Monica Place EB Games. The sales associate told me that she heard the store would receive some at 1 p.m. that day. Sweet, I thought. At 1 p.m., the store should still be empty since classes would still be in session. I lost track of time and didn’t get to the store until 2 p.m. Too late, all three game consoles were sold within the first few minutes and I cursed all the way down the escalator. CRACK FOR A NEW GENERATION My most recent attempt occurred on Thursday afternoon when I went back to EB Games and Circuit City in Downtown Santa Monica. As expected, neither had any in stock. The sales associate at EB Games said that he receives about 100 calls a day asking if the Wii is in stock. There is also the occasional fanatic that walks in the store with the same inquiry. At Circuit City, the sales associate said that they expect to receive some on Monday. The store most recently had 19 Wii consoles in stock about four weeks ago. I tried searching Craigslist again to see if a kind soul would be willing to sell a Wii for less than $400\. One such soul is Sam Bhavnani of Torrance, who is selling the Wii for $320\. The Long Beach State student has sold between 25 and 30 units, earning more than $2,500 since the units were released. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t have his own console. “My friends and I thought we should make a movie that Wii is like crack,”Bhavnani said on Thursday. “They have crackheads who are hooked on crack.Well, there are people who are hooked on the Wii.” Myself included. Best Buy seems to be the worst place to try and find the Wii, according to Bhavnani, who always seems to call the store the day after it sold the last of its consoles. He also has a theory that the employees at Toys “R” Us and Target are trying to save the Wii for themselves and their friends. “I call Target and they’ll say they don’t have the Wii, but when I go in there, they’ll have 10,” he said. As I was driving around on my lunch break on Wilshire Boulevard, I saw a very unhappy looking clown holding a sign that Aahs had some Wii and PlayStation 3 systems in stock. Finally, I thought. My bubble quickly burst when I found out that the store was selling it for $399. Because Aahs is a mom-and-pop establishment, the business cannot afford to buy the Wii in bulk from Nintendo, according to Ray Singh. Instead, Aahs will buy the Wii and PlayStation 3 from “local distributors.” Even though the Wii is expensive, the store has no trouble finding customers. I gazed longingly at the Wii that sat behind the counter, almost taunting me. When I do get the Wii, I will kiss the box before I tear it open and connect the Wii to my television. Until then, all I can do is sit back, make some more calls and pay some more visits to Best Buy and EB Games. Give me my damn Wii already. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 9, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030907.pdf?ref=smdp.com)